So-called rake receivers are currently used to implement the de-spreading function in the receivers of spread spectrum communication systems. The receiver is provided with a plurality of identical rake fingers, each one for de-spreading the plurality of multi-path components which may be associated with a transmitted symbol. Each rake finger is constructed using identical digital logic, and each finger allocated to a different multi-path component at a different received timing offset. The multi-paths are generated by the propagation environment.
One disadvantage of such an arrangement is that a large amount of identical circuitry is used to de-spread the various multi-paths.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved technique for despreading multi-path components in the receiver of a spread spectrum system.